Ethics Bowl Team Will Host Regionals, Compete at Nationals

Members of the Harper College Ethics Bowl team - the only community college squad
to qualify for this year's national tournament - now have their eyes set on the two-year
college championship. The team, which lost a close battle to the U.S. Naval Academy
team to finish 1-2 at the Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl Championship in San Antonio
this month, will travel to Georgia in April for the inaugural Junior College Ethics
Bowl Championship. The team also will battle it out at a first-ever regional contest
hosted by Harper on Saturday, April 6.

"This is the best team Harper's ever had, and these students have proven that they
have it in them to compete well and win big," says Assistant Professor John Garcia,
who coaches the team with Assistant Professor Brett Fulkerson-Smith. "It's exciting
to work with them as they prepare for these contests, because you can really see their
eagerness to compete and to succeed."

The team beat out competitors from nearly a dozen Midwestern four-year colleges and
universities to earn its first-ever national qualifying bid in December. The four-person
team ranked ahead of 10 teams at nationals, including prestigious institutions like
Georgetown University, but was knocked out of the contest after the Naval loss.

Team members prepare for competitions by reviewing case studies on a variety of in-the-news
topics that beg philosophical debate, from plagiarism to paid maternity leave. They
use the contests to take a stand on the issue, spelling out their reasoning before
facing a panel of judges who probe them for further justification.

The regional contest will begin at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, April 6 in Rooms L304 and L314,
Building L on Harper's main campus, 1200 W. Algonquin Road in Palatine. It is free
and open to the public.